Well, dear church family, in our previous study in Romans, we looked at Romans 9, 14 through 24, where we considered the glorious doctrine of God's election concerning the gospel. It is God who shows mercy. sovereign mercy and grace as he wills. And we thought that he is the potter, isn't he? And we are the clay. And the potter has power over the clay to do whatsoever he willeth. Salvation is not based upon what a nation someone belongs to, or what privileges one has, or anyone's religious performance or works before God. We thought about that last time. as we considered last time in verse 16, so then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. It's not due to man's inward intention, nor is it about man's outward exertion that he could ever know He can be saved. It is purely down to God's sovereign mercy and grace and election. It is nothing owing to the flesh. Of course, we're all called to seek the Lord, that we may be found in him and that we may receive him. But it's a gift, isn't it? It's a gift that was planned in eternity past. We thought last time that divine mercy is not a right, is it? None of us deserve to be saved. If we've been shown anything of our own sin and our own depravity, I don't know about you, but the more we read the scriptures and the more we live in this life, the more we can say like Job, I'm vile. We have a sense really of our own sinfulness that every part of us is tainted with sin. So mercy, divine mercy, is not a right. None of us deserve to be saved, but God has plucked us as brands from the burning, as it were. We thought last time that God calls individuals to himself, come unto me, all ye that weary and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. He calls individuals, seek ye first the kingdom of God to himself and he does so through his son who he has spoken to us in these last days. And he does this to both Jews and Gentiles according to his promises and according to His good pleasure, not according to what we can offer God. It's all according to His will. And to help demonstrate this very fact, the Apostle Paul, this evening, from Romans chapter nine, 25 through 29, he gives us two Old Testament prophecies, one which we've ridden, we've ridden? Which we've read. Which we've read. I think I need some coffee. Two Old Testament, one from Hosea, the other from Isaiah. We've read the one from Hosea concerning And I'll say this with great sensitivity because I know and I respect people have different views and that's perfectly acceptable. But my particular view is that it's concerning the rejection, not the total rejection, of the nation, of Israel, which remained unbelieving. beside a remnant. And with the predetermined or pre-appointed gathering in of the Gentiles, which of course there were a number that believed. And so this really will be our focus for today's Bible study, and that's these two prophecies, one from Hosea and the other from Isaiah, verses 25 through 29. Let's begin at verse 25 and 26 with Hosea's prophecy concerning this. As he saith also in Hosea, that's Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there there shall they be called the children of the living God. Amazing. People who were not God's people, who were not beloved of God in a place, had nothing got to do with God, there they shall be called the children of the living God. They shall be called children with a glorious inheritance. They shall be beloved of God. Amazing. And so Hosea here, verse 25, this is a reference to Hosea, verse 25, concerning the gathering of the Gentiles. And quite amazingly, this prophecy concerning the calling of the Gentiles to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ by faith It was foretold more than 750 years plus before this actually happened. Long before any of them came into being, long before any of them had even a chance to prove their worthiness of salvation, their works at all. The Apostle Paul here is reminding the saints, remember Romans The Epistle to Romans is written to the saints at Rome, it's written to believers. He is reminding them and us who are Gentiles through this prophecy that our salvation is firmly of the Lord and of his sovereign grace. And he's also reminding us that we're not second-rate believers. Either, when we become a Christian, we all belong to the family of God. There's not a hierarchy in terms of believers here. And I think this is really the point he's trying to make here. And so the Old Testament proclaims this as well as the new. We think about Great Britain and America, a place really where deities, lifeless deities and worship of the stars and the moon and we think of witchcraft and all these wicked things and before Britain and America and the West was properly Christianized, it was a place. It wasn't a beloved place, was it? It was an ungodly place. It was a place of judgment. But now, and we see what the Lord has done to these lands, it's sad to say that it's in reverse in many ways. But nevertheless, there are many still, are there not? Hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, that are now beloved of the Lord, who are now the children of God, and who have a glorious inheritance. And so we're told in no uncertain terms, really, who God considers to be his true people. Verse 25, it says, my people, and he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, my people. People, God's true people are those who have been called, verse 25. That is what scripture has always classified as God's true people. It's those who have been called according to election, not according to a particular country or particular family even. It's always got to do with sovereign election. and grace and mercy. That's what makes a people of God. My people here, a people which weren't my people, now become my people. So there's not two different types of people. There's always been, in the Old Testament and New Testament, there's always been one people of God. and as those who are God's elect, those who have received saving faith and who have been brought to repentance and to trust and believe in the living God and to walk by faith. That is what constitutes the true people of God throughout the ages. Gentiles were called by God's grace previously that were not a people. They were called to repentance to repent from just giving their hearts to the creature, and to turn to the living God, and to the Savior. And similarly, Jews, of course, were called to repent of dead works, and their sin, and to believe in their Messiah, Jesus Christ, and to trust in what was said of him. And so friends, what a wonder this is, that we who once are far off from God in trespasses and sins, and in dead works even, we who were not beloved, we who were not a people of God, were not the children of God, how that we should become beloved people of God. How that we should become the children of the living God and have a glorious inheritance bestowed upon us. And it's a bit like Mr. Saunders said on the Lord's Day. We don't deserve any of these things. All we deserve is wrath and eternal wrath. And yet God has reached out to us, he has literally plucked us as brands from the burning. And I think, when I think about these things, it's all down to God's sovereign, mighty grace, isn't it? And what grace does to us is it humbles us, doesn't it? It humbles us to the dust, thinking I just, I don't deserve anything from God. And the fact that we're here this evening, friends, and that we can pray with one another to the living God, and that we can be under his word, and we can fellowship with one another, and speak of eternal things, it is humbling, isn't it? There are tens of thousands of people all around us that know not these things. And that's what grace does, isn't it? When sovereign grace strikes the heart, it humbles us to the dust, doesn't it? And I don't know about you, but sometimes when we're really struck and we think upon these things, we say, why me? There's so many people, much more people that are nicer than me, that are more gentle or kind or more loving, just by general grace. Why did you choose me? And you keep getting that answer, don't you, coming back. Because I loved you. I loved you with an eternal love. And nothing in ourselves, it's all down to the Lord. Now it must be said that there is not two separate peoples of God, there is only one, my people, they will become my people. Verse 25 says, and I feel like I need to say this, there is a growing and helpful trend in the West in terms of salvation that religious Jews are being put onto a par with believing Christians. that somehow they are on the same par as Christians, but the Bible is very clear that that is not the case. Or that somehow Jews, and don't get me wrong, I have a love for Jews as Gentiles, we want everyone to be saved, but how somehow Jews in some way are more qualified to be saved than Gentiles. There is this huge emphasis. All you have to do is go onto YouTube and look at all these ministries. There's this massive emphasis and this trend. And I think it's actually a little bit divisive because it actually takes us away from the gospel to everyone. That we must be impartial in our preaching. We must preach to everyone and focus on everyone. Yes, to the Jew first, but to the Gentile, to everyone. God's true people, my people, are only true believers. Romans 3.29 comes to mind. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles. God's true people, my people, are only true believers. They have been called by God's sovereign grace to believe in Jesus Christ, to receive faith and repentance that is not of their own making. If there is no repentance and no heartfelt belief in Jesus Christ as one's own personal savior, and if there is no walking by faith, that person is not considered a my people. He is not considered a true believer or a child of God. And that's not me saying that, that is scripture that says that. Such cannot be considered the people of God. And to help demonstrate this very fact, the Apostle Paul gives us another prophecy from the Old Testament from Isaiah. Look at verses 27 through 29. Isaiah also crieth, concerning Israel. Though the number of children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved." Reference to Isaiah 10, 22. Isaiah, like the Apostle Paul, is His words are inspired with the spirit of prophecy, with the spirit of prophecy here. He too realizes that the nation of Israel, not totally, but there will be a remnant, but the nation of Israel will be rejected. and that there will be a gathering in of the Gentiles. And this spirit of prophecy causes, like the Apostle Paul, as we read about, great anguish of heart, realizing what will become of Israel. Israel according, remember, to the flesh. And it causes him great pain of heart, like the Apostle Paul. He says in verse 28, for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness because a short work will the Lord make upon earth. And verse 29, and as Isaiah said before, except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah. Isaiah 2 prophesied how Israel as a nation would be rejected and that only a remnant of true Israel who had the faith of Israel, a remnant would be saved. He prophesied that in due time the Gentiles would be brought into the salvation promised to Abraham. Remember that glorious promise that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham. Every nation of every tribe of every tongue would be blessed. It's due to election. It's due to God's sovereign election. Isaiah showed how God would cut off hypocrites, and that only a remnant would be spared, only those who are Israelites indeed, not according to the word, but according to the spirit. If God had not shown divine electing grace, sovereign grace, and divine mercy to that remnant, to those who had received the seed of saving faith, as it were, that whole nation would have turned out and would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah. Just think about that. That's what the text says. That whole nation would have turned out like Sodom and Gomorrah. Think about Sodom and Gomorrah before it was destroyed. Think about the state of that place, of Sodom and Gomorrah. The things that were happening in that place, dear friends, they would have ended up like that if it were not for God's sovereign grace and his sovereign mercy. And think just for a minute, friends, where you and I would be if God did not intervene in our hearts and our lives by his sovereign grace. It's worthwhile thinking of, isn't it? Some of us, like I mentioned a little bit earlier, would be wagging our finger at the preacher. We would be no different, friends, than many people on this high street here. We would be walking past. In fact, I think I remember when I was young, there would be preachers and things like that. I had no time for them at all. I was brought up as a Christian, but there were things that... If it's not for God's sovereign grace, we would be like that. Some of us would be given over to many gross and sodomish things, many of us. It is all down to God's sovereign grace. And really, when that strikes home to us, it is humbling. It should really humble us to the dust, really, to what God has done in our hearts, and in our lives, in our family's lives, and in our church lives. And that if we have means of grace afforded to us, really, are we using them? Do we truly cherish them? You know, when someone is truly saved by God's sovereign grace, it really does, it begins to dawn on us, really, what we've been brought from, what we've been saved from, doesn't it? I always think of that text, and I think it's in the Psalms, before honour is humility, doesn't it? That's what grace does. Humility. It humbles us. And I think sometimes as Christians what we can do is we can allow When we allow pride in, or the things of this world in, and when debates start happening amongst us and other such things, and we start to become very argumentative, that's really when something has gone wrong there. Because grace humbles us. It ought to humble us. Every time we come to the means of grace, whether that's in private or altar worship at home, or in the church, we should always come deeply humbled, wanting to be moulded by the Word of God. We should not come to judge the preacher. We should not come with alternative means. There are so many people nowadays who come because they just want to prove the preacher wrong or some other thing. We should always come I'm deeply humbled that I have been gifted this opportunity here and God is going to speak to me here and is going to bless me here if I would but receive it. Sometimes I think we can take the means of grace so lightly sometimes, so casually, but really when we think upon these things, where would we be? I could just go back a number of years and see the progression on how God, even as a Christian, how God has intervened in certain areas. And I thought, wow, if God didn't intervene at that time in that certain place, well, things could have been a lot more hairier. Let us count our blessings, brothers, sisters in Christ, because this is not only a message about, obviously, about Jews or Gentiles, this is for all of us, isn't it? It's about all of us thinking upon God's sovereign grace and election and thinking upon it personally. What does it mean for you? What does it mean for me? The crux really of the matter is that the Apostle Paul is making abundantly clear from the full counsel of scriptures, going back to the Old Testament here in particular, that God's true people all along have been composed not of Abraham's descendants, but of God's elect. That's the whole point that he's trying to make here. And that's what this passage is about. Such election is the key to understanding history, both of Jews and of Gentiles. It's not according to Abraham's descendants, it's according to sovereign election, God's election. Holy Scripture, you'll notice, focuses intently upon God's elect. you know there are many others if you read scripture there are many other amazing events that happen in the world at the same time as the events in the Bible. Historians will tell you of amazing things. They're irrelevant. They're completely irrelevant. God focuses on his elect. Those who have saving faith, those who walk by faith, those who have the spirit of the living God in them, who are trusting in their Messiah or trusting in the Christ. and that our walking by faith, it always narrows in and focuses on God's elect. And we see that with the seed, don't we? And the plan of redemption. We see that how God is always focusing, zooming in on his elect people, as it were. Mountains literally are moved for his elect. Kingdoms are brought low. Lions' mouths are stopped for his people, for believers. God's true people are his elect of both Jews and Gentiles. And whether that be pagan Abrahams, who were taken as a pagan and made into a great and mighty people for the Lord, or Naamans, Syrian Naamans, who were proud but were deeply humbled, weren't they? made to wash in the dirty rivers, as it were, and he eventually gave in, or Moabitish Ruths, or Jewish Davids. It's all about God's elect, isn't it? Scripture always zooms in and focuses on that. These were all taken by God's sovereign grace, taken by God and given a faith that is not of their own making and is not of their own doing. And where then is boasting for either the Jew or the Gentile? Where is boasting? What can either the Jew or Gentile boast in? Nothing. There's nothing to boast in, is there? There's no difference, as it were. And this reminds Remember, this epistle is written to the saints at Rome. It was written to believers. And most of the believers at Rome were Gentiles. And they were not to think of themselves as second-rate believers who are inferior to Jewish believers. And again, by way of application, There's an application for us here as well. You know, sometimes in our churches now, nowadays, you can, we can form, and I'll say this with, with, with, with, I say this with respect, is that we can form these holy cliques sometimes in churches. And then when someone is saved straight out of the world, for instance, or maybe from a drastic charismatic type of Christianity, and they're brought into the reformed world, is that we can form these cliques and we can sometimes treat such people as second-rate believers. Well, you're not on our pie just yet. kind of attitude. And I've seen this, by the way, I'm not just talking about this. You have these holy cliques. And sometimes you'll have genuine believers that are brought in, into churches, and they want to assimilate, they want to grow, but they're kind of, well, you know, you've just got to know your place, and when you're called, and they treat it like a second-rate believer. And they're also, you know, and often doubt, doubt is cast upon them because they still have little niggly bits that they're still working out in their life. And really this puts, this has put off a lots of people who have come into the reformed world, genuinely hungry and they see the doctrines of grace and then they receive this coldness And then they end up going the other way. They end up going back, as it were, back into that. So there is application here for us as well. And the same can be said. in terms of the gifts, in terms of, that's why I mentioned it in my prayer, the gifts of the Spirit. If you have truly turned from your sin and you've believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior and you've been born again by the Holy Spirit of God and by the grace of God, you have received the Spirit of God, there is not somehow and another outpouring, as it were, of the Spirit, so that you become the super-Christian, as some teach. And that somehow you need to listen to their words, whether that conforms to scripture or not. And again, it's all happening again. There's almost like you're a second-rate believer. You need to listen to the prophet here. You need to listen to this prophet's words. whether they conform to the word of God or not. That's not on, is it? We hear the Good Shepherd's voice, and he speaks to us through his word. And if you're a believer, you are just as worthy as any other believer, whether you're a one-year-old believer, or a one-day-old believer, or a believer that's been a believer 50 years because you've been bought with the same blood, and you've been bought with the same righteousness, and you've been saved by the same grace, and you've received the same spirit. And so we must be those who are very careful not to form these ungodly, impartial, we can do it, can't we? Even with our nationalities, we can do that. That must be gone. Grace, like I said, it humbles us to the dust and we must get back to that. Remember when you were, I don't know if you can remember, when you were first converted, And no doubt many of you will remember that time where you were brought low as it were and the Lord showed you your sin and your filth and your wretchedness and how you've treated him and then he showed you the Saviour and then his love to you. and the tears and going into the dust, as it were. And sometimes we need to get back to that, don't we, as believers? We must have very, very, very... I was saying with Brother Rod, you know, we must be very distrustful of our own hearts. Don't put any confidence in experience. Don't be presumptuous. You may have had a wonderful career. You might be very intellectual. Don't put your trust in that. Don't think you stand unless you fall. It's a great reminder here of sovereign electing grace. It humbles us, doesn't it? And so Jewish and Gentile believers together represent the true people of God. Jewish and Gentile believers are the true Israel of God. All that God ever said and promised is for them as well. All who believe and trust in him. Portion of God's word really should lead us to worship God for his sovereign grace and his favor to us, for his mighty eternal ways and decrees which are past finding out. Is it not a wonder of wonders that we rebellious, depraved sinners should be called by the gospel? It's ever a wonder, isn't it? I think I'll just leave it there for this evening until next time. Amen. Feel free to contact us at Sovereign Grace Church in Tiverton. Email us at grace2seekers at gmail.com. That's grace2seekers at gmail.com. Alternatively, you can visit our website at www.sovereigngracereformedchurch.co.uk.